A man covers his ears as he walks past firecrackers set off by people on a street in Beijing Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015. Setting off fireworks to celebrate Chinese New Year may be a centuries-old tradition,... (Andy Wong)

(Newser)
–
Setting off fireworks to celebrate Chinese New Year may be a centuries-old tradition, but the country's authorities are urging people to light fewer of them this week as cities fight a losing battle against relentless, toxic air pollution. Dozens of cites in China have outright banned lighting fireworks today and tomorrow, while others have reduced the number of fireworks vendors allowed to operate. In Beijing, people received text messages from their phone companies advising against setting off fireworks while local government-run media repeated the warnings in newspapers and on websites. Still, the state-run China Daily warned today that Beijing's clear skies would likely become heavily polluted by the night due to fireworks, reaching the highest level possible on a scale measuring air pollution. It said the polluted air would probably last through Friday due to windless conditions.

Despite the warnings, one Beijing fireworks vendor surnamed Yu said today that he was still swamped with customers. He said he was allowed to sell his goods for only 10 days this year, compared to 20 the year before. The capital has been under intense pressure to clean up its skies, which are among the most polluted in China. Last year, Beijing authorities said they planned to phase out all forms of coal burning by 2020. Meanwhile, the anti-fireworks sentiment didn't hold true in New York City last night, where the Chinese consulate was a sponsor of a big New Year's fireworks display. The 20-minute show was touted as the first time that Chinese New Year celebrations kicked off outside China.

Climate change doesn't occur in China so they're okay with pollution that isn't essential to the economy. And climate change advocates in the West all concur. The East can never do any wrong, according to our environmentalists.

Reluctant Patriot

Feb 18, 2015 2:08 PM CST

Great idea. The U.S. should stop fireworks as well and stop being hypocritical regarding clean air. Hell, fireworks account for more bad air annually than smokers do. Yet there they are every 4th of July - all the "Smoke bothers me" people - watching displays (along with the children they 'want' to protect from smoke) with their oooh's and ahhhh's and wide-eyed amazement, or in their own backyards, permeated with all that "fun" fireworks smoke. It used to piss me off, but now I laugh at all the hypocritical, double-standard people. It's like watching a massive freak show.

daveca

Feb 18, 2015 1:35 PM CST

I toured a small US city power plant in the early 19EIGHTIES that had clean coal processes and stack scrubbers. One day I noticed I could no longer see emissions from the stack and asked their engineer why, so he gave me a tour. They also had NG powered turbines. Theoal was powdered and washed to it burned more finely and cleanly, and a scrubber at the top of the stack eliminated most of the particles. I assume it was electrostatic. (he also showed me where the cops brought pot they seized to throw in the burner, and the little tray below the door that they didnt know about, that caught some of it before it could all burn up..) So I DONT want to hear about "China cannot do this" China doesnt WANT to do this. They steal any other technology that we develop, why not clean power generation? Fireworks for one week a year (Chinese New Year, started today) are not the problem...